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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | As bulls have a field day in U.P., farmers scurry to save their crops -Omar Rashid

As bulls have a field day in U.P., farmers scurry to save their crops -Omar Rashid

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published Published on Mar 26, 2018   modified Modified on Mar 26, 2018
-The Hindu

Slaughter of cattle has stopped after the BJP government took over, and they cannot be transported to other States as cow vigilantes strike fear

UNNAO:
Farmer Govind Sharma was facing a dharam sankat (moral dilemma). Stray cattle were eating up his valuable crops. But the farmer’s religious beliefs forbade him from using force to drive them out. After much thought, he decided to walk the middle path: catch the bovines and keep them under custody. Over the past year, he has caught three stray bulls and put them on a leash outside his house in Gadhi Karmali village in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh. One bull had injured at least four people in the village.

Bulls are generally not used for farming. Mr. Sharma already has a pair of bullocks that he deploys on his 2.5 bigha farm, but he now has to incur an additional cost of over ?1,500 per month to feed the three bulls. Yet, despite the financial burden, he feels a moral responsibility to take care of them. “God is watching. I put the rope around them, so it is my duty to not let them starve,” said Mr. Sharma. He also has to feed a 10-member family.

And the predicament is not his alone. There are at least eight stray bulls in the custody of the villagers. But dozens of other bulls, cows and calves roam free, posing a threat to the crops. In some cases, they also attack the farmers.

Lodh farmer Ram Singh recently received 24 stitches on his lower back after a bull gored him in his field. “Six persons have been attacked in just the past four days. The male calf is particularly aggressive,” said Guru Prasad Sahu, who owns three bighas of land.

No more fairs


Stray cattle entering fields, and eating away and trampling on crops is common in U.P., but villagers claim the menace got worse after the BJP government came to power in 2017. They claim that due to the fear of cow vigilantes, and shutting down of illegal slaughterhouses by the Yogi Adityanath government, slaughtering of cows and bulls has stopped. This has also resulted in the collapse of local cattle markets. Several cattle fairs have not been held since the BJP came to power.

Slaughtering of cows has been banned in UP for several decades and the crackdown on abattoirs only concerns buffaloes and goats. But Ramayan Singh, a marginal farmer, claims that under the previous governments, police allowed cows to be slaughtered illegally for a bribe. “Modi and Yogi have brought an end to all that. We support it. But the issue of stray cattle must also be dealt with,” Mr. Singh pointed out.

Farmers say that after the BJP came to power in the State, and at the Centre, they have found it difficult to sell their old cattle. They claim this is one reason for the increase in the stray cattle population. If one is unable to sell an old animal or get the right price for it, it is eventually left to fend for itself. Such bovines wander into farms.

On the other hand, meat traders say that there is increased stray cattle menace because the sale of bulls and bullocks to other States like West Bengal, where slaughter is legal, has come to a halt after the BJP came to power. They also attribute the slump in cattle trade to the fear of cow vigilantes who disrupt transport of cattle even if the carriers possess valid documents. After assuming power, the Adityanath government decided to invoke the NSA and Gangsters Act against those slaughtering cows and smuggling the animal.

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The Hindu, 26 March, 2018, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/as-bulls-have-a-field-day-in-up-farmers-scurry-to-save-their-crops/article23349876.ece?homepage=true


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